


Hiding in Plain Sight

by MarchofBirds



Category: Static Shock
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Requited Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 07:50:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14039571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarchofBirds/pseuds/MarchofBirds
Summary: When Virgil and Daisy start dating Richie finds camaraderie in the strangest of places. And maybe, eventually, circles back around to find something else.





	1. Chapter 1

When Virgil and Daisy start dating no one was surprised, least of all Richie. When he saw less and less of his friend outside patrol hours he tried not to be jealous. They’d been through this; he knew they’d always be best friends. He’d always known this would happen eventually, whether with Daisy or some other girl Virgil was always going to drift away from him. So he threw himself into his alter-ego, perfecting every gadget, inventing new algorithms for predicting when and where crime was likely to strike. He told himself, as he had time and time again, that ‘friends’ was enough- it always had been and it would be now.

So, okay maybe Richie wasn’t taking it as well as he could have. He tried hard to be happy for his friend, _was_ glad that Virgil was happy. But maybe he wasn’t as selfless as he would have liked to have been, and maybe he was struggling a little. Help, he found, sometimes came in the unlikeliest of places.

 

 

One afternoon after Virgil had left to walk Daisy home Richie was gathering his books from his locker when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find Frieda standing behind him looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable. “Hey Frieda, what’s up?”

“Oh nothing really, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out for a little while.” She was shifting on the balls of her feet and not quite holding eye contact. Richie didn’t need to be a super genius to figure out that there was something she wasn’t telling him, but it didn’t hurt.

“Uh sure, what do you wanna do?” He asked, slamming his locker shut behind him. Frieda and Richie rarely hung out without Virgil and Daisy around, and since they’d coupled up he’d seen even less of her.

“I don’t know…we could go for a walk.”

“Anyplace we’re walking to?”

“My house I guess? Daisy and I used to hang out a lot after school you know, listen to music, study.” She started walking down the hall toward the double doors and he hurried to keep up with her fast clip.

“I’m not too sure I’d make a good replacement.” He wondered if she was as lonely as he was, losing time with her closest friend.

“Oh stop, I know you miss Virgil as much as I miss Daisy,” she said, as if she could read his mind. He tended to forget sometimes how clever Frieda could be. On the walk to her house she chatted about a story she was writing for the school paper and some football player who she’d turned down for the third time and he started to relax, figuring he’d misjudged her reason for asking him to hang out. She laughed at something he said and he reflected on how well they got along when they actually spent time together.

 

 

They’d settled in her room with a few snacks that didn’t have nearly enough oil or sugar for Richie’s taste and a boyband playing in the background that he’d never admit to liking. He sat on the floor and she on the bed, but before they could even take out their books Frieda cleared her throat “Could I ask you a…personal question?” she said just loud enough to be heard over the music. 

“I guess so?” He was internally kicking himself for letting his guard down, though he had no idea what Frieda could possibly want to know- unless it was about Static and Gear.

“Okay, well I could be totally off-base here or totally out of line for asking. And if so just tell me and I’ll never bring it up again.” He didn’t know what she was talking about but he doubted that. “And no matter what you say I promise I won’t tell anyone.” He doubted that too, and was starting to get very nervous.

“What is it?” He asked, ready to deny everything and make a quick exit if she mentioned anything superhero related. 

“Are you…gay?” 

“I…what?” That was definitely not what he had been expecting.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s none of my business. I guess I was just…I mean you never have a girlfriend and other than Virgil all of your friends are girls and oh wow I’m just making generalizations. You know how nosy I am you don’t have to answer.” She babbled on, turning red.

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes…yeah I’m…yeah that,” he mumbled, immediately regretting his split second decision to admit his second-biggest secret to grapevine-Frieda of all people.

“Really?” She seemed surprised that he didn’t deflect or try to deny it. “Have you told anyone else?”

“No, I haven’t. I guess this is me coming out for the first time,” he shrugged, letting his head sag below his shoulders.

“Hey that’s great, come here,” with surprising strength she leaned over and hauled Richie up onto the bed next to her. “This is an exciting occasion then, I’m proud of you.” She pulled him into a hug. He collapsed into her smaller frame, resting his head on her shoulder.

“You aren’t gonna tell anyone right?” His voice was muffled from where he didn’t bother lifting his head to speak.

“I won’t, I promised.” She rubbed his back and tried not to grimace at the pain of his glasses digging into the bone of her shoulder.

“But why haven’t you?”

“Come out while I’m still in high school? I don’t know because I like my face arranged the way it is?” He snapped his head up to look at her defiantly.

“Well maybe not to _everyone_ , but you haven’t even told your best friend. It’s not like he’d tell anyone.”

“I know that but…I don’t know what he’d say and I don’t want things to change between us.”

“It’s your call to make, but I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit.”

“Maybe not but I-” Richie cut himself off, another, much worse, thought dawned on him. “Hey wait how did you figure it out? Is it obvious? Does everyone know?”

“Now you’re not giving _me_ enough credit. No, Richie, I doubt anyone has figured it out. I just notice things, like how you’ve never really had a girlfriend.”

“I have too.”

“Holding hands with a girl for two weeks in seventh grade doesn’t count,” she rolled her eyes.

“Well what am I supposed to do, date a girl I don’t really like just to throw people off my trail? I can’t do that,” his voice started to rise in panic.

“Richie calm down, I’m telling you nobody else has noticed,” she said in her most placating tone, resuming rubbing her hand up and down his back. It was too late for that though; his mind was already zipping through all the possibilities a thousand miles an hour.

“You don’t know that. Plenty of people could’ve figured it out already- they might just be waiting for the perfect opportunity to hold it over my head. Or, or what if Virgil knows?”

“Okay, stop just breathe.” She breathed in deeply, gesturing for him to copy her. When they had taken a few deep breaths in and out she continued. “What if you did have a girlfriend?”

“I just told you I can’t ask a girl out just to break up with her; that’s messed up. I guess I could make up a girl from a different school but I doubt Virgil would buy that.”

“What about you and me?”

“You and me…what, fake date?” His voice cracked and he looked at her like she’d lost her mind.

“Yeah, why not? I’m a real girl, we know each other, we’re friends- I think it’d be believable. More believable than an imaginary girl from a different school for sure.”

“But what would you get out of it?”

“Remember Kevin, that guy I told you about who asked me out three times? He’s not the only one and frankly it’s getting annoying. I have the SAT to worry about and honors classes, not to mention the school paper. It’s not like this is a forever-thing, just a few months to give me a break and you an alibi. I don’t have time for a real relationship and for some reason the only kind of rejection guys respond to is ‘I have a boyfriend’- god forbid a girl be happy on her own.” She let out an exasperated sigh and cut herself off before she could launch into a rant. “Anyway my point is: it’d be mutually beneficial.”

“Okay so…how would this work? Would we just show up at school together? Do we go on dates?” She could tell he was getting ahead of himself again and wondered if she wasn’t making a mistake.

“Yeah, just like any other couple- we’re seen together at school, holding hands, you kiss my cheek, the basic stuff. And we hang out like we were dating just without the y’know kissing and other stuff,” she shrugged like it was the simplest thing in the world and he wondered if he wasn’t making a mistake.

“You really think that’d work? Won’t people expect us to, I don’t know, make out or something?” He asked, thinking of other couples he’d seen around campus.

“Richie have you ever seen me make out with any of the guys I’ve dated?” She asked incredulously.

“Well, no but I wasn’t really watching either,” he sputtered.

“Yeah well I’m not big on PDA; I’m a classy girl. It’ll work.” She sounded so sure of herself that he couldn’t help but start to agree.

 

“Okay…okay you’ve got yourself a deal.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Frieda and Richie spent almost an hour working out the details, books left largely forgotten. As per their plan, the two of them met outside school the next morning in order to arrive together. Richie thought it’d feel weird holding his friend’s hand, walking close like a couple. Granted, the stares and obvious whispers were more than a little strange- even if that’s what the entire point had been. But the closeness itself wasn’t as uncomfortable as he’d expected, Frieda’s familiar presence a source of calm as she stuck by his side.

Virgil generally hung around with Daisy until right before class started and Richie wasn’t due to see him until their shared third period English class. By the reaction they were garnering, though, Richie knew that by then he’d already be aware of the apparent change in their relationship status. He felt his heart skip at the thought. For some reason he didn’t necessarily want to investigate further, wondering what Virgil’s reaction would be affected him more than all the other eyes in the hallway. Frieda seemed to feel his distress and gently squeezed his hand.

By the time third period rolled around he’d gotten a few angry glares, a few confused stares, and a lot of whispers behind his back. Of course in truth most people didn’t care in the least, but that wasn’t how it felt to Richie who’d only ever been the center of attention the time he got shot. This was definitely less painful, but by how much Richie couldn’t say. Virgil showed up two minutes before class started. He was almost knocking desks out of the way in his haste, earning him a scowl from their teacher that Virgil didn’t seem to notice.

“Richie, it’s not- I mean is it true? You and Frieda?” He stage-whispered, collapsing into his usual desk at Richie’s side.

“Uh…yeah I mean I don’t know what people have been saying but we uh we are going out.” He tested the words out loud for the first time and found they felt weird in his mouth. He’d always hated lying, particularly to his best friend.

“Oh. When did that happen?” He sounded weirdly tense in a way it never did around Richie.

“Yesterday. We were hanging out after school and y’know, it just kind of happened.”

“I didn’t know you were even into her,” his voice was tinged with disbelief.

“Yeah you know I mean, she’s Frieda how could I not be, right?” Richie tried to laugh but a strained sound came out instead. Virgil raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to say more but class was starting. Richie had never been more grateful to be studying high school English in his life.

He used the rest of the period to pull himself together and recall the story Frieda and he had concocted the day before. When the final bell rang he was mostly prepared for Virgil’s imploring gaze. Like they’d rehearsed he explained that Frieda had asked him to come over to study, and that she’d been a little lonely since Daisy wasn’t around to hang out as much (the best lies are mostly just truth, Frieda said). Richie and Frieda had argued over who they’d say had made the first move. He wanted to take credit; something about having the confidence to ask first struck him as being particularly masculine. She-gently- pointed out that that didn’t seem entirely in character on Richie’s part. Predictably, he relented. So the story went that she asked if he’d ever thought about it, he replied something along the lines of “well I _have_ eyes” and they decided to give it a go.

As they walked to lunch Richie explained quickly, trying to stick to the script. Virgil nodded along but seemed a little dazed, not commenting or asking any questions like he’d expected him to. Richie finished talking and waited a beat but he still stayed quiet.

“V? What do you- I mean it’s good right?” He stuttered out, hoping he hadn’t been found out already.

“What? Oh yeah it’s great Rich, congrats!” He patted him on the back a touch too roughly and gave him a smile that looked just a little like a grimace. Richie didn’t know how to question him about it without sounding paranoid so he just thanked him and changed the subject.

 

Over the following weeks Richie spent most afternoons at Frieda’s, sometimes walking her home, sometimes meeting her after she’d finished meeting with the other writers for the school paper. The hours he had been spending alone since Virgil and Daisy started dating he now mostly spent with Frieda. He still missed his best friend but was surprised at how much fun he was having not silently moping over him.

He found he had more in common with Frieda than he’d expected- her approach to anything that interested her almost as relentless as his own. Granted, she still rolled her eyes at his obsession with comics and video games but he just shrugged it off as he always had and they found other things to bond over. He excitedly explained the inner workings of a few of the gadgets he worked on (those that had non-superhero related applications). She picked up on it quicker than he’d expected and before long was giving him ideas he never would’ve considered on his own. He did the same with the articles she wrote and researched on and she joked that their arrangement turned out to be mutually beneficial in more ways than one.

It only took about a week and a half for the rumor mill to accept their relationship and move on to the next cutest couple. Like Frieda had said, it never took more than some hand-holding and the occasional kiss on the cheek to convince them. There were only two downsides and the biggest was lying to Virgil. To his surprise though, his friend asked about it so rarely, he hardly ever had to. Virgil asked about Frieda sometimes, but would then change the subject before Richie could get more than a few sentences out. The four of them double-dated on occasion but it was never very intimate- mostly just talking and hand holding- to Richie’s eternal relief.

The second problem was hiding Static and Gear business from Frieda; the more time they spent together the harder it was to explain away the time he spent patrolling or the bruises it’d often leave him with. He’d made up a lot of excuses since first donning the uniform but somehow had never gotten much better at lying.

She cornered him one afternoon demanding to know the truth when he’d showed up for school with a deep scratch across his shoulder from squaring off against a particularly pissed off Talon the evening before. He’d just about run out of stories by that point and she didn’t even bother to pretend was buying it. Richie was about to book it when she leaned in close, too close, looking at him wide-eyed and sincere. She spoke softly, “does it happen at home? Does your dad or-”

“What? No, no that’s not it. I mean I know that’s exactly what I would say if it was but it’s really not.” He looked at her as earnestly as he could, knowing she wouldn’t let it sit if she didn’t believe him.

“Okay, I believe you, but only because I know you’re a terrible liar. So what _is_ going on Richie?”

“Can’t you just…I don’t know trust me?”

“Can’t you trust me?” She asked; hand on her hip, face pulled into a pout.

“Don’t act so hurt. You’re just mad because you can’t stand that there’s something you don’t know.”

“I’m starting to think you know me a little too well,” she sighed, exasperated.

“Well I _am_ your boyfriend,” he grinned.

“Smartass, you know I’m just gonna keep bugging you until you tell me,” her arms were crossed but she was smiling and he knew he was off the hook- for now. He wondered, briefly, if Virgil had had the same problem with Daisy but got distracted with one of the other thousand things he had going on in his brain before he got the chance to ask.

 

Four days passed and he’d entirely pushed the problem to the backburners of his mind when Virgil asked if they could talk about something after patrol. It wasn’t a particularly challenging night, a few run-of-the-mill criminals and no bang babies, but Richie spent all of it on edge. He and Virgil talked all the time and he never felt the need to ask. Something was definitely up.

Once they were back at the gas station and changed out of their uniforms Virgil cleared his throat meaningfully. “I’ve been thinking…” He trailed off and Richie swallowed the need to fill the silence with a stupid joke, just nodding silently and waiting for him to continue. “I think it’s time I tell Daisy about Static.” He said, continuing quickly when Richie didn’t react. “I won’t do it if you don’t think I should since it’s kind of your secret too.”

Richie felt a surge of anger he knew was irrational. He knew it wasn’t fair to blame Virgil for wanting to be closer to his girlfriend but…but Static and Gear was something that was just theirs. “Kind of? Yeah I’d say it has a little something to do with me,” he spat out, unable to hold his temper despite himself.

“I said I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to,” he said, taken aback by Richie’s burst of anger.

“So, what I get to be the bad guy keeping you and your girlfriend apart?”

“It’s not like that man I just-”

“You just thought your relationship was more important than saving lives?”

“You know that’s not true. Daisy wouldn’t tell anyone.” Virgil snapped, finally losing his patience.

Richie knew that, knew that he was being unfair but he didn’t want to lose anything else to their relationship. “Fine. You tell Daisy, I tell Frieda.”

“That’s not the same,” he said after a short silence.

“Why not? You tell your girlfriend, I tell mine. Seems fair to me.” Richie wasn’t sure where he was going with this; he didn’t want to tell Frieda any more than he wanted Virgil telling Daisy.

“We’ve been together longer and Frieda’s…”

“She’s _what_?” He challenged, knowing exactly what Virgil was getting at.

“She’s a blabbermouth Rich. I’m sorry; you know she’s my friend but she’s got that reporter spirit she can’t help it.”

“Frieda can keep secrets Virg.” Richie felt a strange swell of protectiveness overcome him. He wasn’t sure why they were even having this argument, but he knew better than anyone that Frieda could damn well keep a secret.

“Okay…okay if you’re sure. If you trust her I do too. You tell Frieda, I tell Daisy. This’ll be great! It’ll be so much simpler once we don’t have to try and come up with-”

“You don’t get it.” Richie cut him off, startled and irritated. He didn’t expect Virgil to agree, at least not so quickly.

“Don’t get what? What is your problem?” He was well and truly pissed off at this point.

“Just…forget it.” Richie wanted to apologize but couldn’t without admitting how ridiculous he was being.

“Fine.” Virgil turned to leave, sounding more angry and defeated than he’d ever heard him. Richie opened his mouth to call him back, to say something, but stopped himself. The truth, petty as it was, was that he was still angry.

When the door slammed behind his best friend though, he still felt the sink of dread and guilt creep over him.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Richie had never been one to sit around waiting for a phone call, counting the hours like some sad jilted lover. Mostly because he’d only ever been in love with Virgil and they’d hardly ever fought. Still, he liked to think of himself as above the whole thing. Except with a super-brain that calculated and remembered every detail whether he wanted it to or not, letting the hours and days they were apart slip by wasn’t possible. He hung out with Frieda, which was mostly just dodging questions he didn’t want to answer. He tinkered with the gadgets he had lying around in his room, not wanting to chance running into Virgil at the gas station. He patrolled alone. He counted the hours. The phone didn’t ring.

It was going on four days 19 hours and- _shut up, brain_ \- when there was a soft tap at his bedroom window. Richie sighed, almost wanted to just pretend he hadn’t heard it, wait for Virgil to give up and leave. He knew he was just fooling himself though; he couldn’t stop his feet from padding over to open that window any more than he could stop his brain from keeping perfect time. He pulled the curtain back and when Virgil zapped the window open himself Richie wondered if he knew that he’d always give him anything he wanted. Wondered if it went both ways.

They sat on Richie’s bed, not talking for the longest time. He wasn’t going to be the first one to speak, he told himself, not when Virgil was the one who came all the way over here. Finally, finally Virgil cleared his throat, mumbled out a “look man I…I’m sorry.”

“You are?”

“Yeah I figured out why you got so mad. Should’ve figured it out a long time ago.”

Richie felt the blood rush from his face, his stomach twisted, his fingertips tingled. Oh god. “Oh, oh yeah?” He tried, failed, to keep his voice from cracking like it hadn’t since he was thirteen.

“Yeah, I know how important being a hero is to you. You know it is to me too, right? I know I put Daisy ahead of it and I didn’t mean to. I just...got caught up in the whole dating thing. You know how it is.” Virgil sounded so sincere, so apologetic.

“Oh…yeah I know how that is. It’s okay,” he choked out mechanically. He felt like he should still be mad but he was so relieved to not be found out he thought he might actually throw up.

“You don’t have to say that,” Virgil said, but his face was already breaking into a grin. “I mean you know nothing will ever come between us right?”

Richie felt himself smile and nod weakly, still feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him.

“And if you don’t feel comfortable telling the girls about Static and Gear then we don’t have to,” Virgil continued, undeterred by Richie’s unresponsiveness. “I’ll just tell Daisy this is something she has to trust me on. If anything I bet you’ll have a harder time with Frieda; once she gets a whiff of a story she doesn’t let up.”

When Richie doesn’t offer anything beyond a laugh that sounded strained even to his own ears, Virgil finally stopped and really looked at him. “Are you sure you’re okay… _we’re_ okay?” His face was scrunched up in concern. Richie knew he cared, knew that he was the one being confusing, knew Virgil just wanted to make things better despite how much he hated apologizing first. He also knew he’d give Virgil anything he wanted.

“Yeah V, we’re okay.” He tried to make it sound convincing because it was true- they would be. He’d get over his issues and they would be just the same as they always had been. His secret was safe; he hadn’t been found out.

When Virgil finally left, Richie felt bizarrely disappointed in all the places he thought he’d feel relieved.

 

Just as Richie had predicted, everything went back to normal- for a while. Frieda even got off his case about how much unaccounted time he spent on patrol. Though the suspicious looks she gave him from time to time reminded him that she hadn’t forgotten, and wasn’t likely to. Then one afternoon a few weeks later she turned to him out of the blue.

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Last time you asked me a personal question we ended up being the cutest couple in school. I’m a little scared to find out where it could go from here.”

“Are you in love with someone?”

Richie sputtered for a bit before coughing out “uh why do you ask? Do I seem like I’m in love with someone?”

“Well…” She twirled a finger through her hair, looking away in her- frankly terrible- impression of innocence.

“Who am I in love with, huh Frieda?” He snapped defensively, ready to skip to the end of this painfully awkward conversation.

“You know who you’re in love with Richie,” she dropped all pretense and looks him dead in the eye.

“Ugh, it’s that obvious?” The little bubble of anger popped and he crumpled, hiding his face in his hands. In that moment he loved her a little bit for not saying his name out loud.

“What kind of girlfriend would I be not to notice the guy my boyfriend’s crazy about?” She put, what he assumed was meant to be, a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“That was probably the weirdest thing you’ve ever said.”

“So what are you gonna do about it?” She plowed on, ignoring his negativity.

“Same thing I’ve been doing for the last- oh I dunno six years- suppress it until I get ulcers and die early.”

“Okaaay…or you could stop being a baby and tell him.”

“Hmm, okay I see your point but consider this- no.”

“ _Richiiiee_.”

“Frieda no, I don’t even want to tell him I’m gay and now you want me to tell him I’m in love with him too? Wasn’t the whole point of us dating to keep me as far in the closet as possible?”

“Well maybe we should break it off if I’m just enabling you to keep being a…a big weenie.”

“Weenie? Frieda c’mon just be a friend, let me be.” He whined.

She looked at him sympathetically for a moment before sighing “ohhkay but I really think you should tell him, it’s not healthy to keep secrets like that to yourself. Wait a minute did you say _six years_?”

“Yeah, almost as long as I’ve known the guy and a lot longer than I’ve known you. So let’s just drop it.” Her look escalated to full-blown starving-shelter-dog pity; he rolled his eyes.

“But he’s your best friend he’s not gonna-”

“I don’t want to find out what he’d do, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” The conversation was over, for the time being. But Richie knew that Look, the same one Frieda got any time she was chasing a story. There was no way she was going to let this go.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Things didn’t change much after that. He and Virgil still patrolled, he and Frieda still went on double dates with Virgil and Daisy. They just happened to include a lot of deep imploring looks from Frieda. Richie could just tell that she was chewing on the insides of her cheeks so as not to blurt anything out whenever Virgil was around. If either he or Daisy noticed, they never said anything. To her credit, she doesn’t mention it again, even when they were alone. But he figured something had to give, it was just a matter of time.

 

Fortunately for him, what gave turned out not to be Frieda’s iron will. Two months passed more or less unnoticed when one afternoon Richie was in his room making some upgrades to Backpack when Virgil’s voice came through his communicator.

“Rich? Are you there?” His voice sounded muffled and a little staticky and Richie considered adding it to his ever-growing list of upgrades before he noticed the little sniffle.

“Come in, Rich.” That time it was unmistakable; Virgil was crying.

“Virg? I’m here, what’s up man?” He asked, trying to sound casual.

“Can you come over?”

“Yeah, is uh…is everything okay?”

“Yeah I mean sort of. Or, well it’s not a Static thing, everyone’s safe.”

“Okay, I’ll be over in a minute.” Richie wanted to feel relieved but his gut twisted in concern. He hadn’t seen Virgil cry in years, and that’d been about his mother.

 

Richie knocked on his front door and Virgil answered immediately like he’d just been sitting there waiting. His eyes were red and puffy but it didn’t look like he was crying anymore at least. Richie shuffled over to the couch a little awkwardly as Virgil shut the door behind him. He followed him over and plunked down on the far end of the couch without saying anything. The house was unusually quiet.

“Your pops and Sharon out?” He asked after an uncomfortably long silence.

“He’s helping out at a church fundraiser, and she had a date with Adam.” He said but didn’t offer any more information as to why he’d called Richie.

“You doing okay?” He prompted.

“Daisy broke up with me,” he finally said after a long sigh.

“Oh…bro I’m sorry,” he tried really, really hard not to feel the wave of relief that rushes down his spine. He did anyway but it wasn’t not nearly as strong as the creeping guilt that followed. “Was it sudden or, well I mean you guys seemed happy,” he fumbled all his words, not knowing what to say.

“I thought so too but,” he shrugged helplessly, sniffling again.

“Did she say why?”

“I don’t really wanna talk about it,” Virgil croaked and Richie could tell he was trying not to start crying again.

“Hey that’s okay man you don’t have to. We could go to the comic store, or if you don’t wanna go out we could watch a movie, or go get copious amounts of junk food and then watch a movie. Your pick.”

“Are we actually gonna do that whole eating ice cream and marathoning rom-coms breakup cliché?”

“Hey I’m down for French fries and mindless action but it’s up to you. I’m not judging.”

“Yeah, that sounds pretty good,” he hiccupped in some semblance of a laugh and Richie felt a tiny swell of pride. “Let me just go wash my face real quick so I don’t look so…leaky.”

 

They ended up surrounded by every kind of chip, snack cake, and candy they could afford watching some sequel of a reboot of a reimagining that Richie couldn’t remember the name of if he tried. Virgil, at least, seemed distracted. Then halfway through the movie he spontaneously blurted out “I mean I know it was a high school relationship. It’s not like I thought we were gonna get married or anything. But, I dunno it still feels…crappy.”

“Yeah of course it does. You’ve been friends with her for a long time- that always makes things more complicated. It’s not like she’s just some random girl.” Richie, having never gone through a real breakup in his life, had no real idea what he was saying. But Virgil looked at him intensely, like he had just said something really profound.

“You’re right. Thanks Rich.” Richie didn’t know exactly what he was being thanked for but it seemed to appease his friend for the moment so he didn’t question it. They were half an hour into the next movie the next time Virgil spoke up without preamble. “She said she felt like my head was always somewhere else.”

“Well…was it?”

“What?”

“Was your mind somewhere else?” Richie asked tentatively, wishing, not for the first time, that his gift had come with emotional intelligence as well as a genius IQ.

“I…I guess I dunno maybe.” Virgil’s gaze was locked on some spot in the corner of the room. He seemed almost embarrassed, though Richie couldn’t figure why he would be.

“Maybe it was about Static, because you never told her?” He felt that guilt washing over him again. He was the one who didn’t want Virgil to tell Daisy about it, so they’d have something that was just between the two of them.

“I don’t think so,” he shook his head sadly. “She really listened when I asked her to trust me- she didn’t seem upset about that. She said…she said when we were together I was distracted, distant. I dunno maybe she was right.” He sighed and turned back to the movie. Richie didn’t know if he wanted him to say anything else.

“It’s days like this I wish we were old enough to drink,” he said, stuffing his mouth full of chips. Virgil unexpectedly busted out laughing and the morose mood was broken, at least for the moment.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Things were tense between Virgil and Daisy after that for a few weeks, and they couldn’t help awkward spilling out to Richie and Frieda in the process. If Daisy had shared any inside information about the breakup with Frieda, she hadn’t passed it on to Richie and he tried really hard not to ask. There was no dramatic intervention or breaking point between the two of them as far as Richie was aware, but slowly things got back to normal- almost.

 

“Do you think we should break up?” Frieda asked Richie one afternoon. They were lying in her backyard after school. She was studying and he was covertly working on designs for a new communicator (having decided that, tears aside, Virgil’s voice was coming across pretty staticky last time).

“Wouldn’t we have to actually be dating to break up?” He asked, not looking up from his notebook.

“Yeah but like do you think we should stage a breakup?”

“Why, is there someone you wanna date?”

“No, not especially,” her voice had that false innocence to it as she trailed off. Richie put down his designs, sure that there was more coming. “It’s just that Virgil’s single now-”

“Oh not that again I thought we’d agreed to never ever talk about that again.” Not that he found this conversational turn surprising; he knew her tells so well at this point he almost could’ve been her actual boyfriend.

“I know I just thought after everything with Daisy maybe you’d changed your mind.”

“Why would that change my mind? Did she say something to you?” He tried not to sound too desperately curious.

“Sorry, sworn to secrecy,” she mimed zipping her lips and he groaned, throwing his head back on the grass. He knew she was bringing all this up to get a rise out of him, so he’d be tempted to ask Virgil about it. But damn if it wasn’t working.

“Well then, no I haven’t changed my mind. If our arrangement is still working for you then I’d say I’m more in love than ever _darling_.”

“Nothing’s different on my end, _sweetheart_ ,” she giggled. “But pretend relationship or not, I want real flowers on our anniversary.”

“Of course,” he put a hand to his chest like he was offended she’d even suggest otherwise. “Can’t have people thinking I don’t treat you right.”

 

With all the time Virgil had devoted to Daisy freed up, he and Richie slipped easily back into spending most of their free time together. Any distance that might’ve worked its way between the two of them during the last few months vanished and they were as close as they’d ever been. Richie told himself that he was only so happy about because Virgil was back to being his old self. He definitely wasn’t at all smug about having a monopoly on his friend’s time. His relationship with Frieda having settled into something comfortable, the weirdness with Daisy subsiding into normalcy, and his friendship with Virgil back on course, Richie was sure his life was getting to be about as perfect as was possible. Which, of course, meant that it couldn’t last.

 

It didn’t seem like long at all before Virgil upended the status quo yet again. They had just finished patrol and were spending the rest of their Saturday night holed up in the gas station- each having claimed to be spending the night at the other’s house.

“Hey Rich,” Virgil asked, once they’d changed out of their uniforms.

“Mm?” Richie was fiddling with the blaster on his right boot, which hadn’t been working at full capacity, leaving him feeling lopsided all night.

“Can I ask you something...personal?” He asked haltingly, from his place on the beat-up couch in the corner. Richie snapped to attention so fast he dropped the boot. It promptly bounced off the floor, activated itself and slammed against the wall before shutting back off. The familiar question and tone…after everything, Frieda wouldn’t have told Virgil, would she?

“Uh yeah Virg of course, what’s up?” He tried to act casual, which was exceedingly difficult as he’d almost just shot himself in the foot with his own boot.

“You’ve been dating Frieda for a pretty long time now.”

“That’s not really a question. But yeah I guess it’s been a while now.”

“I’m getting to it. And dude, it’s been eight and a half months; that’s like practically married in high school time.”

“Wow, has it been that long already?” Richie hadn’t kept track of the exact day he and Frieda had concocted their plan, was surprised- and a little impressed- that Virgil had.

“Uh yeah I think so, I mean…won’t she be pissed if you forget your anniversary?” Virgil stumbled over his words, uncharacteristically awkward.

Richie thought of Frieda warning him to buy her flowers and tried not to laugh. “Nah, she’s a lot cooler about those kinds of things than you’d think,” he waved off Virgil’s concern.

“If you say so- she’s your girlfriend.” He didn’t sound convinced but let it drop.

“You never actually asked me a question,” Richie pointed out before he could stop himself.

“Oh, right. Well I was just wondering…since you’ve been together so long, I mean is it getting serious? Have you, y’know, gone all the way?” Virgil looked away carefully like he really couldn’t care less about whatever the answer happened to be.

Richie debated internally whether or not to lie. Would it seem suspicious if they hadn’t after so many months together? Had Virgil and Daisy? “Not all the way, no.” He decided that after everything she’d done for him, Frieda didn’t deserve to have that _particular_ lie about her- even if there was no way Virgil would tell anyone else.

“Oh, that’s…good.” He exhaled like he’d been holding a breath. “I mean but you’ve done other stuff though, right?”

“Yeah, yeah y’know, some. Frieda, she wants to move slow and I’m not one to push; don’t want to uh make her uncomfortable.” Virgil nodded, seeming to accept his explanation.

After a long silence Richie tentatively broke the silence. “Did you and Daisy?” He hadn’t wanted to ask while they were together, wasn’t sure that he could handle the answer. But if Virgil was going to ask, well, he’d never had much self-control when it came to curiosity to begin with.

Virgil sighed before answering. “I guess since you admitted it, no we never did.” He didn’t elaborate for a long few moments, and Richie figured that was it, before finally Virgil continued.

“I dunno, I guess I just never felt like the time was right. And maybe…maybe she wanted to move a little faster than I did. Is that weird?” Richie opened his mouth to respond, but it was like the floodgates had opened. “She’d never say so, but I think that had something to do with the breakup. It was something we…something she brought up a few times. Not sex specifically but just stuff, closeness. I don’t know.”

“Hey man, V, everybody moves at their own pace, y’know?” Richie couldn’t believe he of all people was giving Virgil advice on girls. He could’ve laughed if Virgil didn’t look so distraught. “You shouldn’t do more than you’re comfortable with.”

“You’re right, I know that. I just…guess I felt like I should’ve been the one leading, being the guy and all,” he shrugged.

“Aw man that’s just a BS patriarchal standard forced on us as men.”

“Wow, you really have been spending a lot of time with Frieda.” Virgil laughed. 

“Huh,” Richie blinked and let out a surprised laugh. “I guess I have.”

“Still though, you might have a point. I was just worried that I might not— I don’t know, never mind.” Virgil didn’t say anything else for a long time and in the silence Richie tried to convince himself to move on and let his curiosity die, whatever it took to bring their relationship back to its equilibrium

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

As finals loomed closer, Richie found that all of his friends had little free time to spend with him. One of the many perks of being a super-genius meta-human was what an utter joke his high school education had become. So, while Virgil spent extra hours cramming, Richie took up the slack, patrolling on his own and checking in every half hour to let him know if he needed backup. He thought he’d feel lonely, as he had last time he was forced to patrol Dakota solo. Somehow though, this time he found the night air cleansing, the solitude relaxing. He supposed it was knowing that everything was okay with Virgil, that he had a willing partner in crime-fighting back home.

Richie had found a certain peace with the way things were. He figured he’d always feel more than simple platonic comradery for Virgil, but also knew, ultimately, that it didn’t matter. At least, not as much as their continued friendship; if nothing else, their time apart had taught him that. He knew that at some point he’d have to come out, have to admit to his friends and family what only he and Frieda knew. Presently though, he was content to give himself time to get comfortable with who he was.

It was a Wednesday and the first round of finals started next Monday. Richie was patrolling on his own for the fourth night in a row, only needing to call for backup once since Virgil had taken his little leave of absence. It was closing in on two in the morning on a particularly slow night and he was contemplating heading home; even if he didn’t need to study anymore, he still needed sleep to be up for school in the morning.

The sound of shattering glass snapped him back into the present. He snuck along the side of the building nearest to where he’d heard the sound and peered around the corner where two men seemed to be trying to hijack a car, with little success. One was behind the other, bouncing on his feet, and the other was fumbling with the car door like he couldn’t figure out how it opened. Richie figured they were probably inebriated in one way or another, at the very least they definitely weren’t professional carjackers. So maybe, he reasoned later, that was why he hadn’t approached the situation with as much caution as he should have.

Richie approached them head on rather than using the element of surprise. He figured that if they were intoxicated their reflexes would be slowed, and if they were just beginning their lives of crime maybe they’d listen to reason. The next thing he knew there was a flash, a loud pop, and he was slammed into the alley wall and the assailants were gone. He wasn’t in the best side of town (go figure) and most of the surrounding buildings were abandoned. Nonetheless he figured someone had to have heard the gunshot. He looked down to his middle where blood was seeping through his fingers.

Richie was no stranger to guns; he’d been shot before he ever put on a costume and roamed the streets looking for trouble. And yeah, this didn’t feel any better than the first time. Though at least last time there had been someone there to call an ambulance and he wasn’t wearing an outfit that was sure to raise more than a few questions. He gasped for breath and tried not to scream in pain. Okay so, gut shot and no real way to tell which organs were hit, but he was still conscious so that was a good sign. He reached into his belt and pulled out a packet of the coagulating gel he’d recently come up with. It was just a prototype as neither he nor Virgil had been hurt badly enough in the last few weeks to give it a reliable test run. ‘ _Necessity is the mother of invention_ ’, he reasoned as he ripped a bigger hole in his uniform to spread the gel over the wound.

The bleeding slowed and there were no immediate side effects so he dubbed the experiment a success as he tried to calculate how much time it would take to get to the gas station and change into regular clothes before going to the hospital. The gel may have stopped him from bleeding out on the sidewalk but there was no telling how much internal bleeding he’d sustained. He could go to the hospital immediately but the thought of explaining his nightly activities to his parents well…then there was how long it would take people to figure out who Static was and all the unwanted attention that’d grant Virgil. If they were found out, there was no way things would be able to continue as they had been.

Richie wasn’t that far from the gas station. He could make his way there, change, and call an ambulance from a block or so over. Every second he spent weighing the pros and cons was another second wasted ‘ _screw it_ ’. He pushed off the wall and flew in the direction of the gas station, the struggle of holding his boots steady going a long way in keeping him conscious.

 

By the time the station came into view Richie knew he’d made a crucial error in judgement. He tried to land but his knees gave out under him as soon as his feet touched ground. He pushed himself up and staggered inside. Black spots danced in and out of his vision and he cursed himself for not getting around to studying human anatomy in favor of the dozens of inventions he’d come up with since acquiring his metahuman abilities. If he had he probably would’ve realized what a bad idea coming here first had been.

He stumbled over to the locker where they kept emergency sets of clothes and pulled out an outfit he was pretty sure belonged to him. The last time he was shot he had to wear a cast on his leg for weeks; changing pants had been a hell he’d hoped to never revisit. That, however, was nothing compared to the searing pain that shot through his body as he worked his uniform off and tugged the jeans and hoodie on. By the time he was done changing clothes he was out of breath and swaying on his feet. The idea of walking far enough from HQ to find a payphone would’ve made him laugh if he wasn’t so afraid of dying. He needed a change of plans.

“Backpack…call Virgil,” he slurred; grateful that he’d least had time to upgrade their communication system to include voice control.

“Hey Rich what’s up, got a bang baby problem you need my help with?” He sounded hopeful and somewhere in the back of Richie’s blood flow-deprived mind he thought Virgil was probably desperate for a break from his studies.

“Gas station, hurry…’m hurt,” he tried to speak as clearly as possible but even he could tell he was barely making any sense.

“Richie? Are you okay, what happened?” The panic was clear in Virgil’s voice and Richie tried to answer, to explain, but couldn’t get anything out beyond a pained wheeze. “You said the gas station, right? I’m on my way.” The signal cut off and Richie blacked out.

 

He was awoken by a pair of hands roughly shaking his shoulders. The pain hit so hard a second later he almost lost consciousness again.

“Richie, Richie wake up!” Virgil’s face swam into vision. “Please wake up man,” his voice cracked and he was definitely crying. Richie gurgled out a response and he fought to open his eyes. “Thank god,” Virgil sobbed. “What happened?” Richie looked down to his middle but almost no blood had leaked through. Dimly, he felt a sense of pride that his invention had held.

“’s shot,” he managed.

Virgil’s gaze followed Richie’s eyes to his abdomen and he looked sick with fear. “Why’d you come here? You coulda flown to the hospital!”

“Secret…identity,” was all he could get out.

“Secret- that’s not worth your life you idiot!” His voice cracked again. Lightning fast, (Richie would’ve laughed at the pun if he’d been anywhere near coherent) Virgil leaned in and kissed him on the mouth, pulling back before Richie could respond. “This is gonna hurt but we’ve got to get you to a hospital.”

Richie didn’t have time to parse out that statement before his best friend was hauling him up and over his shoulder. He screamed, the movement shooting pain from his middle out to ever nerve in his body.

“I know, I’m sorry I don’t know what else to do.”

 

Richie blacked out again and woke to the wind whipping by his face. After a brief struggle, he got his eyes to focus enough to realize that they were flying and Virgil wasn’t wearing his costume or mask. He really hoped, after all the trouble he’d gone through, no one saw them.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

The next time he woke up he couldn’t feel anything except cold. There was a cottony feeling permeating everything and he couldn’t help thinking that his brain hadn’t moved this slowly since before his abilities had manifested. He blinked heavily and tried to get a gauge of his surroundings. There was a needle attached to his arm, everything was white and clean, and there was a soft beeping sound somewhere to his right. He was in a hospital room. The last thing he remembered was…was the flash of a gun, a _lot_ of pain, the gas station, Virgil’s face coming in close, buildings passing in a blur.

“Hey.” He turned his head slowly to meet his mother’s gaze. She was perched in a chair beside his bed, hair a mess, clothes wrinkled, looking like she hadn’t slept in days.

“Hey,” he rasped. He smacked his lips together and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, instantly leaning forward to offer him a glass of water with a bendy straw from the bedside table. He took a long drink before answering. “Uh, heavy.”

She half-sobbed half-laughed. “The doctors say you’re going to make a full recovery- thank God. What happened Richie?”

“I…don’t remember,” he lied, his drug-addled mind not moving fast enough to come up with anything.

“Virgil said you saved a woman from being assaulted? Honey you can’t just-”

“Virgil? Is he-”

“He’s waiting outside; I don’t think he’s left since he brought you in.”

“Can I see him?”

“Sure,” his mother sighed and she looked more tired than he ever remembered seeing her as she rose from the chair. “I’ll let him know you’re awake.”

“Mom?” She stopped, looking at him questioningly. “Thank you and, sorry for making you worry.”

“Oh honey,” she hiccupped, a tear escaping down her cheek. “Just please…I know you want to do good but don’t go around trying to be a superhero- you’ll get yourself killed like that.” “

I won’t,” he lied again and gave a strained laugh, trying not to grimace at the sharp pain it caused in his stomach.

“I’ll be right outside,” she said, disappearing through the door.

 

Virgil came in a second later, eyes wide and hands clutched in front of him. He sat in the edge of the chair Richie’s mother had vacated. With his hands gripped tightly in his lap and his eyes darting everywhere but at Richie, he looked a little terrified.

“I’m gonna be okay V,” Richie rasped, hoping to quell his friend’s fears.

“I know; I heard your mom talking to the doctors.” He smiled weakly, swallowing heavily. “I…you really scared me. I’m never letting you go patrolling alone again.” His eyes were all liquid warmth as he finally looked Richie in the face.

“Virg you can’t be around all the time.” Part of him bristled a little at the notion that Virgil could let him do anything, while the other part warmed at the obvious concern in his statement. “I underestimated a few carjackers- it was a mistake.”

“I wish you’d called me-”

“Yeah I do too, now. But let’s talk about it later, somewhere that’s not here.”

“Wouldn’t want to spill the secret you almost died to protect,” Virgil rolled his eyes but spoke softly and Richie knew he took the matter as seriously as he did. Despite Richie’s improved condition Virgil still seemed uneasy.

“It’s okay you know- I really am fine. You can relax a little; you got me here now I just have to recover.”

“And I’m really, really relieved, you have no idea. It’s just…do you remember anything that happened after calling me?”

“Sure, yeah you woke me up and uh flew me here.” He whispered the last part, still paranoid about someone overhearing, despite the empty room.

“Do you remember anything else?”

“Uh the last thing I remember is wind in my face, buildings passing by, and then I blacked out. Why? Did I…say anything?” The sick feeling he had last time he thought Virgil had figured him out was back, the lingering ache the pain meds hadn’t quite knocked out not helping.

“No man, you could barely speak.” He trailed off for a long moment and Richie frowned, struggling to remember through the previous night’s haze of pain and blood loss.

_Virgil shaking him awake, pleading with him to wake up, crying (was he bothered by the crying?), his face coming in close, the feel of his mouth and- oh._ _Oh_. His eyes opened wide in shock, mouth parting just slightly as he struggled for words.

“I’m so, so sorry Rich. I know you were practically unconscious and then there’s Frieda- I don’t know what I was thinking. I just really thought I was gonna lose you and I…I couldn’t not at least once. That’s not fair though, I know that…Just if you tell Frieda, tell her I’m sorry.” He looked like he was either going to cry or bolt, or both.

“Wait, wait that really happened? You mean you actually- I thought I was dreaming,” Richie stammered, finally finding words. “Is that- do you- I mean…why?”

“I…I guess because I wanted to. I guess because I’ve always wanted to. It just took everything that happened with Daisy for me to realize, and then you almost dying to do anything. I know it was the worst possible time, if there even is a good time, and you don’t have to say anything. I mean it doesn’t have to change-”

“Did I kiss you back?” Richie cut him off, suddenly needing to know. He’d pictured it a thousand times under a hundred different circumstances (only some of them involving one of them nearly dying) and in his mind he’d always kissed back.

“Did you…?” Virgil looked caught off guard by the question. “I don’t, it was so fast I mean but I don’t think so. It wasn’t your fault, if you’re worried about cheating.” He babbled, trying to come up with an explanation for Richie’s unexpected question.

“Do it again.”

“What?”

“Kiss me again. It doesn’t count as a first kiss if I didn’t get to kiss you back.”

“But Frieda-”

“That’s not, she isn’t- we’re just friends.” He shook his head vehemently, trying to make him understand. “It was a cover, a fake relationship.”

“What, why?” Virgil blinked, still utterly lost.

“Because I’m…I’m gay. And she figured it out because I never date any girls and she’s always getting bothered by guys so it just seemed like a good solution.” He wondered if his explanation, spoken out loud, sounded as ridiculous to Virgil as it did to him. Judging by the puzzled expression on his face, Richie would have probably bet yes.

“So you were lying this whole time…to me?” He sounded hurt. Richie deflated, feeling the bubble of hope that had risen pop and be replaced with guilt.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know how you’d react and I wasn’t ready. It was stupid. I should’ve trusted you.”

“No- I mean yeah I wish you’d trusted that I could never think less of you but- it was your secret to tell.” He still sounded dazed, but his voice was sincere.

“Thanks V,” Richie sniffled, hoping it wasn’t his turn to cry.

“But Rich,” Virgil said after a moment in silence. “Why did you have to fake-date Frieda? I’ve never heard any rumors going around about your being gay. Well, except the usual BS but y’know that’s just high school.”

“I don’t know. She figured it out and I got paranoid,” he shrugged, feeling ridiculous all over again.

“Richie you know how smart Frieda is, I’m surprised she didn’t figure it out before you did,” he laughed.

“Heck, she might have,” Richie grinned, tension finally broken. “She did say I should give you more credit.”

“We really should listen to her more often.”

“Don’t tell her that- she’s gonna be smug enough as it is after this.” They laugh until the pain in Richie’s middle made him cringe.

“Wait, you did just say you wanted me to kiss you again, right?” Virgil asked after a minute, suddenly serious.

“I…well whenever I imagined kissing you there was a lot less blood and a lot more y’know, reciprocation.” He mumbled, knowing his face was bright pink and cursing his light complexion for it.

“You’ve imagined kissing me?” Richie had envisioned his best friend saying words like those plenty of times, usually bewildered, sometimes horrified. Virgil said them now and his face broke into a wide grin, teeth bright against his dark skin.

“Only about a thousand times,” he shrugged, still a little sheepish.

“Well I hope the real thing can up to all that.” Virgil pushed off the chair and glanced up at the door quickly to make sure they were still alone. Richie watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed nervously. He tried to sit up to meet him halfway but immediately winced at the sting in his gut, and gentle hands pushed his shoulders back down.

Virgil leaned in and Richie closed his eyes and it was finally happening. And it was everything and nothing like his imagination, everything and nothing like what he could remember from the night before. It was soft and dry and not unlike any of the other handful of innocent childhood kisses he’d had in the past, except completely different because it was _Virgil_. Mostly, though, it was just over too soon.

His eyelashes fluttered open and Virgil was still hovering over him. They smiled softly at each other and all the nerves and butterflies were still there but Richie knew it was going to be okay. Better than, even.

 

“Hey Rich?”

“Yeah V?”

“Could you _please_ try not to get shot again?”

“Deal.”

 

 


End file.
